Many of us have seen a storm in the distance. Many of us have been in one. Perhaps, they are an atmospheric phenomenon of great scientific, practical, and artistic interest. But we have never really wondered how they form. This beautiful but terrifying atmospheric phenomenon will be answered by a simple explanation. The NOAA is an acronym for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It is composed of a cumulonimbus cloud and is accompanied with lightning and thunder. The lightest storms are often accompanied with rain, while the more severe can be accompanied with large hail and winds up to 95 km per hour.
Cumulonimbus is a special type of cloud that forms thunderstorms. It grows quickly from cumulus clouds, which look like cotton balls. Warm, moist air is required to form these clouds. Because it is warm, it rises up to the upper atmosphere and remains warmer than the air around. Water vapor, which rises with the atmosphere, cools and condenses into cumulus clouds. Because heat is generated within the cluster, it can grow in height. This is called latent heat. It’s the heat produced when water vapour passes from the cloud into liquid. The upper part of the cluster is much colder than its lower counterpart when ice crystals form.
This is a quick process and the cloud’s hot air prevents water droplets from falling. When the warm air is no longer able to support the ice crystals or water droplets, cloud height will stop growing. This happens when it rains or snows. The cloud can reach up to 12 km and then flattens out. It occupies a length of tens or even hundreds of kilometers. The cloud produces a downward current (humid) within it and an upward current (dry air) outside. The electrical storm that is created lasts as long the double current of air and water vapor are maintained. It usually lasts between 20 to 60 minutes. We see that the fuel for an electrical storm is hot and humid air. This is why more storms are common in areas where there is high humidity.
Clouds can acquire both positive and negative electric charges due to complex phenomena. Electrical charges can also be found on the surface of the Earth. Because of its light, lightning is also known as lightning. It is caused by electricity traveling between different electrical charges. It can happen within or between clouds, as well as between the clouds and the ground.
These last rays, which occur between the clouds and the ground, are the most important. They have branched and long rays. They heat the air around them to temperatures three times that of the sun (30.000oC) during their journey. Thunder is produced by the rapid heating of air to that temperature.
In fact, thunder is almost always a sign of lightning. The difference in time is caused by the speed at which light travels and sound travels slower. The distance to the storm can be calculated by subtracting the time taken to hear thunder and see the lightning. If the time taken to hear the thunder after seeing the lightning is 15 seconds, then the distance to the storm is 5 km. To find the distance in kilometers, divide the time by 3. On average, there are around 40,000 storms per day on Earth. We could harness the immense energy potential of storms, and their number, to have a vast source of energy, without having to rely on natural resources.
